Denny McLain

Episode 165: Tigers Fan Fave Steve Kemp: What MIGHT Have Been.

Steve Kemp at bat

I was confident, but I wasn’t arrogant.

It’s the latest No Filter Sports Podcast with Eli Zaret, Denny McLain, and Bob Page!

  • Just ONE hit away from Cooperstown? Maybe. One ACCIDENTAL “hit” in the EYE! STEVE KEMP joins the boys.
  • The Tigers were rolling after a sweep of the Pirates — despite the struggling Matt Boyd. Denny breaks down his problems.
  • Did MLB even consider this: can a team still go the playoffs if COVID-19 cancels a BIG part of its short season?
  • By the time you hear this show, college football may be canceled — at least until next spring
  • And programs will be so cash-strapped they’re now begging season ticket holders to donate anyway.
  • Another week, another big-time recruit escapes from right under Jim Harbaugh’s nose.
  • NOW Jimmy’s also upset his top rival who vows ugly REVENGE whenever Michigan and Ohio State do play!
  • Collin Morikawa wins the PGA Championship at 23 and the golf world has its LATEST “New Tiger!” But Bob has a reminder.
  • Eli has “This Day in Sports History,” Bob’s got YOUR Mailbag and — dig THIS: Denny invites ALL OF YOU over to his house!
  • Those stories and much more coming up right here!

Episode 164: The Amazing Baseball Odyssey of Jim Essian

Jim Essian wearing A's hat

Crisscrossing America for 17 years!

It’s the latest No Filter Sports Podcast with Eli Zaret, Denny McLain, and Bob Page!

  • Just say “no” — to BO?! To ARA? To DUFFY?! How one of Detroit’s greatest all-around athletes, JIM ESSIAN, did it! 
  • The PGA Championship is underway! With NO fans —  AND with Eli asking a good question about two top stars.
  • While MLB is a mess, the NHL and NBA “bubbles” seem to be working. But hockey and basketball in AUGUST?  
  • And Bob sez, “C’mon, how much does ‘Black Lives Matter’ REALLY mean in the NHL?”
  • Imagine! College football players to coaches: “Here’s a list of demands or we’re not playin’!” THIS is happening NOW.
  • Why this CRAZY Big Ten schedule!? M v OSU in OCTOBER? Producers Brandon McAfee and Marc Fellhauer think THEY know. 
  • Kelly Stafford is furious at the NFL for Matt’s false-positive COVID test. Have OTHER testing mistakes been made?
  • Is our P.C. society SO nuts that a coach can’t even QUOTE someone dropping an “N-Bomb?” Black players USE it!
  • We MUST support local journalism in our free country. But Bob wonders how much we’re willing to PAY to do so.
  • Those stories, “This Day in Sports,” a tribute to Denny in YOUR Mailbag — and much more right here!

Episode 163: MISTER MICHIGAN: Brandy himself!

Jim Brandstatter broadcasting for U of M

A very timely guest!

It’s the latest No Filter Sports Podcast with Eli Zaret, Denny McLain, and Bob Page!

  • What did Bo know and when did he know it? Just one of MANY topics for us with U-M football voice JIM BRANDSTATTER!
  • So why would Bo allegedly allow sexual abuse by his own team doctor to go on? Eli’s sources have an explosive theory!
  • How could Michigan lose a five-star tackle from right under their noses? The kid’s own father wants to know that too.
  • Seven-inning games?! Eli’s so upset with MLB’s silliness he cries, “START THE DAMN GAME IN THE THIRD INNING THEN!”
  • And now MLB is one-sixth through its season. Not weird enough? As of Monday the Tigers would be in the playoffs!
  • Long-time sportscaster Jamie Samuelsen has died at just 48, joining a host of Detroit media members already gone too soon.
  • Denny’s got figures on the NFL players who’ve opted out of the season. Bob asks again, “didn’t anybody PLAN for this?”
  • The NBA is back! NHL too! Both leagues started off with showy Black Lives Matter displays. Has BLM gone too far now?
  • Bob with a bold prediction for Michigan State basketball, which just went through a VERY eventful week.
  • Those stories, “This Day in Sports,” YOUR mailbag segment and much more coming up right here!

Episode 162: Former Pistons Star Makes REAL Good!

John Mengelt in Pistons uniform

I don’t want anybody to know what I’m doing!

It’s the latest No Filter Sports Podcast with Eli Zaret, Denny McLain, and Bob Page!

  • “How to Succeed in Business WITH Really Trying?” What a life ex-Pistons star JOHN MENGELT has had! “Crash” joins the boys.
  • Eli comes up with an interesting stat: as of Thursday we were already 1/10th through the MLB season!
  • Fantastic start for the Tigers’ Jacoby Jones. Will he someday become a big star? Eli: Maybe  Denny: NO!  Bob: YES!
  • Miguel Cabrera is slow. Uh, HOW slow IS he? Pathetically slow - and perhaps washed up too!
  • Joe Kelly of the Dodgers was slapped with an eight-game suspension after headhunting the Astros. Fair?
  • Oh. You haven’t been watching MLB games? Had enough of COVID issues, eh? Don’t worry. It’s all FAKE — says one NBA player.
  • Racism, real or not, is cutting a swath through the U.S. Will one of the Big Ten’s best-known coaches be a victim?
  • MANY alleged victims file a lawsuit charging that Bo Schembechler WAS guilty in the U-M sex abuse scandal.
  • Those stories, Eli has “This Day in Sports History,” Bob has YOUR mailbag segment and much more right here!

Episode 161: Best Guest We’ve EVER Had? YOU decide.

Stanley Edwards

Some guests, you don’t know what to expect!

It’s the latest No Filter Sports Podcast with Eli Zaret, Denny McLain, and Bob Page!

  • “No Filter?” Wait til you hear STAN EDWARDS on his career at U-M, on BO, son Braylon, the M sex scandal and MORE!!!
  • MLB’s Miami Marlins call off their opener with too many guys testing poz for COVID-19! Is this just the beginning?
  • Good weekend for the Tigers in Cincy. But it WAS just ONE weekend, despite the overreaction of announcers and reporters!
  • What did YOU think of the MLB games? Obviously BIZARRE — but did you enjoy watching them — IF you watched? 
  • FIRST thing ya learn at umpire school? LAST guy to really know the rules of baseball is a PLAYER! Bob and Denny go at it.
  • JV is OUT for a period of time. In such a short season has this already doomed the Astros now with no Gerrit Cole either?
  • On vaca, Eli was NOT happy about our last show OR our guest. He challenges Denny and Bob on damn near everything!
  • Another embarrassment for Jim Harbaugh and Michigan football. How could they let THIS recruit get away?!
  • “The Washington Football Team?” “The Seattle KRAKEN?” What, indeed, is in a name?
  • This Day in Sports History, YOUR Mailbag, plus lots more right here!

Episode 160: 50 YEARS in Detroit Sportscasting!

Ron Cameron

The one! The only! The magic one!

It’s the latest No Filter Sports Podcast with Eli Zaret, Denny McLain, and Bob Page!

  • LOOK! Up in the sky! It’s a BIRD! It’s a PLANE! NO, it’s SUPERFAN Ron Cameron! A TRUE Detroit original.
  • Eli’s not with us, off on a well-deserved family vacation, so it’s just Denny and Bob stirring up all the —- today!
  • MLB is back. Kinda. And the guys are NOT happy about the Tigers’ apparently throwing in the towel already!
  • Are YOU looking forward to watching a bastardized short season in empty stadiums or arenas?
  • Bob’s solution to allowing fans in at games remains logical. He’s CRESTFALLEN sports execs aren’t listening to him.
  • If fans WERE allowed to attend live games, would many stay away anyway over political and social protests?
  • The team without a town! Should the Toronto Blue Jays come knocking at YOUR door, would you let ’em in?
  • Denny says WHAT? “They’re gonna be pretty good this year!” And he’s talking about — WHOM?!
  • College football remains a mess due to COVID (what doesn’t?) but MSU may have just set a bad precedent.
  • Fans of The Mailbag finally have their ardent demand met: a much LONGER segment with no Eli around!
  • And is an NBA ROOKIE trying to run his new team’s front office?! These stories and much more right here.

Episode 159: Dombro’s NEWEST MLB Challenge

Dave Dombroski

Nashville!

It’s the latest No Filter Sports Podcast with Eli Zaret, Denny McLain, and Bob Page!

  • What REALLY happened to DAVE DOMBROWSKI with the Tigers AND the Sawx? The long-time top MLB exec joins us!
  • Canada just says “NO” — to the U.S.! But if the Blue Jays can’t play at home does it matter — with no fans at games anyway?
  • What are MLB games like now without spectators? Bob reports on his Yankees-Mets experience of the weekend.
  • And the PGA Tour experience with no gallery? Eli says he loves golf so much it’s STILL good. Denny and Bob disagree.
  • Now, boys, BEHAVE!!! ANOTHER COVID-19 melee breaks out — but don’t worry, folks. We kept it short.
  • Ditto the latest from the “Black Lives Matter” movement. Eli suggests what they SHOULD have named it.
  • No young black man’s gonna “snitch” on other young black men murdering black men, yet the NBA now has a “snitch line!” 
  • Is the NFL REALLY going to play its violent, contact sport in the new NO-contact world of today?
  • What about college football? Even MORE, what about all the workers who make their livings from football games?
  • “HETEROsexual discrimination?” One of hockey’s biggest names is claiming just that in a new lawsuit!
  • Those stories, “This Day in Sports” PLUS “This Day in NO FILTER SPORTS(?)” in YOUR mailbag — and much more!

Episode 158: SUPER-Sub Johnny Grubb!

Johnny Grubb batting

Everybody understood what our roles were.

It’s the latest No Filter Sports Podcast with Eli Zaret, Denny McLain, and Bob Page!

  • 1984 Tigers hero JOHNNY GRUBB joins the boys on his long MLB career, playing for Sparky AND Duke Snider — and more!
  • What’s NEXT in this wacko P.C. world? One of the great powers in college basketball forced to change ITS nickname too?!
  • Chase Elliott has won the NASCAR All-Star Race before 20,000 REAL fans! Bob asks why the major sports can’t have fans too?
  • Would it help your enjoyment if ALL sports teams used fake crowd noise and fan cut-out figures in the seats? You GOT it!  
  • Is playing on the PGA Tour without fans EASIER? Denny says NO. Everybody in golf seems to say YES!
  • Excited about phenom Casey Mize pitching for Detroit this year? Denny sees a BIG potential problem for him already!
  • The NBA’s “Bubble” apparently has a big hole in it now — but only if you’re a hot 20-something young woman.
  • Eli has This Day in Sports which includes one of the worst collisions ever seen in baseball.
  • Those stories, You-Know-Who on the Hammond Organ in YOUR mailbag segment and much more right here!

Episode 157: Kenny Holland Looks Back and AHEAD!

Ken Holland

I live in the business.

It’s the latest No Filter Sports Podcast with Eli Zaret, Denny McLain, and Bob Page!

  • How the HELL does a guy who oversaw THREE Cup champs become so controversial? We’ll ask guest KEN HOLLAND!
  • We don’t know what they WILL be yet, but the Washington “Redskins” are no more. Overreaction or about time?
  • Now if only they had a league to play in! One NFL player rep warns, “We do NOT have a deal.”
  • The Big 13 + Rutgers won’t play ANY non-conference football games this season. Bob explains why he doesn’t like it.
  • College basketball? The intra-Michigan WAR is ON between Tom Izzo and Juwan Howard — and it’s fun to see!
  • WHAT did you say, Eli? S.I. has a transgender swimsuit model?! Three old men try to wrap their heads around THAT!
  • WHAT did you say, Eli? The degenerates actually bet on — HUH?! And WHERE?!
  • Former No Filter guest John Smoltz talks big, then bets on HIMSELF. How did it work out for him?
  • Bob eulogizes one of his boyhood Tigers heroes while Denny tells tales of another great Tiger from Alabama.
  • Those stories, this day in NO FILTER SPORTS PODCAST history(?!) in YOUR mailbag and much more right here!

Episode 156: Darn Right: He IS “THE MAN!” He’s Tom Izzo!

Tom Izzo

It’s the latest No Filter Sports Podcast with Eli Zaret, Denny McLain, and Bob Page!

Hall of Fame, national title, even unofficial Mayor of Lansing. TOM IZZO joins us on his great career, COVID-19 and MORE!

  • After all MSU’s star recruits of late the question is if there’ll BE a basketball season this year. Or any OTHER season?!
  • Bob MAY be coming around to watching sports without fans — but still gives us an example of how it’ll suck anyway.
  • What’s left of The Palace of Auburn Hills to be torn down Saturday. Eli reflects on his many years covering the Pistons there.
  • “Children should be seen and not heard.” Two idiots in sports show us that some JOCKS should be seen and not heard!
  • When he’s not busy slamming the U.S. Colin Kaepernick likes it here just fine, thank you. The dough’s ROLLING in!
  • More pressure on the Redskins and Indians to change their nicknames, but the Blackhawks join the Braves in saying NO.
  • Ex-Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski is moving to Nashville in an attempt to bring MLB there. Denny LOVES it.
  • Eli has This Day in Sports, Bob has YOUR mailbag and much more right here!